Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Top Friends on MySpaceMusic

Your band is on MySpaceMusic, you've uploaded 6 songs to the mp3 player, and you've sent out a lot of Friends Requests.

You're thrilled to see some of your long-time favorite bands accept you as a friend. You're even getting direct, personal comments and private messages from musicians you've admired from afar.

So, you've got a lot of Friends and your online fan/peer community is growing by leaps and bounds. You spend a lot of time sending out Friends Requests and it's paying off. But how should you display these friends?

Here are 10 tips on ...

How To Display YourMySpaceMusic"TOP FRIENDS"

(1) Always display the maximum number of Friends, up to the limit of Top 40.

(3) Include bands everyone's heard of, like Beastie Boys, Beck, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, early in your display, so people can see that your band is not totally obscure and unknown. You'll gain some credibility by association, especially if these artists post comments on your page.

(4) New struggling bands should be displayed, to help them gain popularity and exposure to their music.

(5) Displaying mostly non-musical individuals and fans is not a good idea. It makes it look like other bands, your peers, don't care much for you. A favorite artist, like Warhol, or writer, like Proust might be okay. But use your Top Friends display as a way to communicate what kind of music you like, what your tastes and influences are.

(6) If your band has multiple MySpaceMusic pages, like for each album, or for specific products or shows, try to vary the bands that are displayed in those pages. Don't just repeat the same Top Friends of the original page.

(7) Check your New Friends and juggle the Top Friends display around to accomodate those important artists that have recently Friended you. Once you get beyond 40 Friends, this will mean dropping some artists off your Top Friends display, but they will remain in your All Friends list.

(8) Give special preference to artists who miraculously take time from their BUSY performing, recording, and partying schedules to post a comment on your page, or send you a private message. Push their avatars up higher in your Top Friends display.

(9) Fuss with your Top Friends display often, juggling the avatars around, making the display look nice. One thing you can do is put the vertically long avatars on the right and left sides of the 4 avatar rows, so the rows look more balanced.

(10) Look at how your musical mentors and heroes handle their Top Friends displays. You may discover some new artists, and you may get some ideas on Top Friends display strategy.